From A Seed
by wildpeace
Summary: Mike's in the 3rd grade when he first proposes to Tina.
1. Chapter 1

Title: From A Seed

Author: wildpeace

Fandom: Glee

Pairings: Tina/Mike, Brittany/Santana (mild, can be read as friendship), other canon pairings.

Summary: Mike's in the 3rd grade when he first proposes to Tina

A/N: My current obsession, just wanted to give it a bash and see how it goes. Harry Shum Jr just makes me happy when I look at him, and I think the show has some fantastic characters. I hope people enjoy.

XxX

Kindergarten is hard.

After moving from San Francisco, away from all of his friends, away from YeYe and NaiNai, from his house and his garden and everything he knows, he's deposited at the door with a perfunctory kiss to the top of the head and the request, " At least try and answer the role-call, okay Mikey?" Then he is handed his knapsack and given a tiny push in the back, and finds himself in a strange new world.

No one speaks Chinese in Ohio and everything is big and loud, and all the other children scream and run around. A girl with a long brown ponytail and red boots kicks one of the boys in the leg and pulls his backpack out of the cubbyhole he has just claimed. " Can't put your crummy stuff in there," she tells him, throwing his snack box across the room, making raisons scatter everywhere. " Britbrit's 'aposed to be next to me!"

The little boy starts crying and the teacher cuddles him while simultaneously scolding, " _Santana!" _but the girl just pouts her lips and throws his juice box in the same direction as his snack.

She has to sit in time-out for five whole minutes, but when the blonde girl with pigtails and the 'Little Mermaid' lunchbox skips through the door with a happy giggle and places her rainbow downy jacket in the now-empty space, the brunette smiles triumphantly. " Told you so," she whispers to the still-sniffling boy when she is finally released from her sanction. " Baby."

" Santana, stop being unkind to Noah," the teacher admonishes, but Santana just throws out an entirely insincere, " Sorry Noah," before grasping hands with the other girl and darting off in the direction of the art table.

Mike thinks the other boy might start crying again worser and louder, but then another boy comes in the door – super tall and wearing a flannel shirt with sleeves rolled up to free his hands – and the tears stop immediately. The two of them say hi and the tall boy doesn't even bother finding a cubby – he just drops his things in the middle of the floor – before they dart off towards the play mat that's scattered with toy trucks and cars.

He's frozen, still, because there's just so much noise and so many peopleand so much _new, _and he's clutching his bag to his chest and he thinks maybe he might start crying too because he can feel tears are creeping up his throat into his nose and eyes, when the front door opens again and he suddenly feels it _– relief. _The girl at the door says goodbye to her mother and pulls the green hood from off of her head, and he's met with a familiar sight: black, straight hair framing a pale face, and comforting almond eyes.

She has to walk past him to get to her cubby, and when she does he starts talking – a release of words in a flurry because even the ten minutes he's been there means his head _hurts _from having to think in English _all the time_ – but she just raises her eyebrows and looks at him.

Then, very slowly, she turns around, unhinges her jaw and – " MISSSSS!" she screams, stamping her gumboot-clad foot on the ground. " This boy's making fun of me!"

So it is that Mike Chang finds himself on time-out for the first time ever. All thanks to Tina Cohen-Chang.

XxX

In the first grade, Mike usually remembers to speak to the other kids in English, but he gets in trouble for being able to do taking away. His teacher gets a cross face and says he shouldn't know how to do that until he's in second grade, and Mike can feel his face get all warm and tingly and red. He's not really sure how he's supposed to _un-know _something.

When he stays quiet, he can hear someone whispering answers under their breath. Tina writes her numbers neatly in the boxes and always remembers to put her name at the top of her work. Her letters are curvy and careful, and she dots the 'i' with a little sunshine. She's three questions ahead of the rest of the class.

From then on, Mike stops putting his hand up to answer. He just does the work at his own pace and dots the 'i' of his own name with a thunder cloud.

XxX

It's February and Mike's in the 3rd grade when he first proposes to Tina. Santana wants to play wedding so he's sent to find an earthworm in the bushes. When he pulls one from under the winter-frosted leaves it's kind of cold and wet and gross but Noah and Finn think it's 'cool!' so he catches Tina by the back of her sweater as she runs across the playground, and winds the pink string of flesh around her icy-cold finger. " Wannamarryme?" he asks in a mumbled rush, but instead of saying yes, she squeaks and screams and shakes her hand hard so the worm goes flying across the asphalt, and Brittany starts to cry.

Tina spins on her heel and glares at him. " Look what you _did!" _

Brittany scoops up the worm from the ground and prods him, great fat tears rolling down her cheeks and falling like raindrops onto her chubby upturned palm. Santana crouches by her, stroking her hair.

Without warning, Tina's hands fly up and push him in the chest – _hard. _ He goes tumbling backwards and lands in a muddy, cold puddle. He's so surprised that all he can do is stare up at her as the freezing water seeps through his jeans.

" I'll never ever marry you Michael Chang! Not in a million billion years even if I live to be 100!"

She runs across the playground towards the swings, her banner of jet-black hair flying behind her.

On the monkey bars, Noah Puckerman hangs upside down and laughs.

XxX

By the time Mike's in 5th grade he likes Ohio. He likes school and he likes his teacher (it's okay now to be able to add up and take away, and well, it seems to be _really _okay that he knows all his multiplication tables too), and he sits next to Tina in class because his name starts with _'c-h' _and her name starts with _'c-o'. _They moved all their seats around when they learned about alphabetising.

Tina's Korean, which is why she didn't understand him back in Kindergarten before he knew about speaking English at school, but people still get muddled up and think maybe she's his sister. Especially Mrs Batt the music teacher who doesn't understand why Tina can sing along with the piano and sound real pretty in choir, but he just mumbles and blushes when she tells him to sing up.

Mainly he likes playing kickball with Finn and Noah at recess (Finn can kick it further, but he's fastest when he's running) or practicing kissing with Brittany and Santana behind the cafeteria. Brittany always tastes like cherry pop and it makes him want to lick his lips after. They take turns and for one recess Santana even lets him say he's her boyfriend, but then Brittany says she's going to make Noah _her _boyfriend, so Santana tells him they're through and the two girls spend the rest of the afternoon practicing cartwheels and handstands in the outfield.

He has to kiss Tina once, for the school play, but it's on the cheek and in front of the whole 5th grade, and everyone laughs and afterwards Noah and Finn make faces at him and call him 'gay'.

He vows never ever to kiss Tina Cohen-Chang, ever, ever again.

XxX

In the 6th grade they start Middle School, and Mike isn't in class with all his old friends any more. The only person he knows in homeroom is Brittany, who grew over the summer and now stands head-and-shoulders taller then him and sounds different when she giggles.

Middle school is also where he first meets Rachel Berry. They are in the same English class and she gives her presentations using multi-coloured index cards with gold star stickers pasted on the back. Her voice is loud and gives Mike a headache and he lays it down on his folded arms as she reads from her cards about Anne Frank and how she was all sad and tragic and how Rachel is really just like Anne Frank because they're both Jews and destined to be super-famous.

Noah Puckerman lands a spitball in the middle of Rachel's hair and makes her shriek, and Mike thinks it might be the most sensible thing he's ever done.

Mike's doodling on his notepad while Rachel screams and hollers and eventually flounces back to her seat, and then lifts his eyes when the next person gets up to speak.

Tina's hands shake as she holds her sheaves of paper, and her long, loose hair falls in front of her face.

" A-anne…uh…A-anne F-frank was a young D-dutch g-girl - "

A spitball goes sailing to the front of the classroom, narrowly avoiding Tina's cheek.

" Stutterfly!"

" Noah Puckerman! To the Principal's office, NOW!"

Noah stomps off with a scraping of chair legs and some obscene muttering, and the rest of the class smothers laughter beneath fingers and palms. Mike laughs with the rest of them until he looks again at the front of the class. Silent tears stream down Tina's cheeks and drip onto her notes, and he can see the carefully penned words smudge and smear.

Their teacher tries to make Tina continue her speech, but after a long pause, staring at the ocean of her peers, she drops her notes like scattering leaves and flees the classroom.

It's three years before Mike hears her speak without sounding terrified.

XxX

He's 13 when his growth spurt finally hits and he's tall enough to look girls in the eye. Some of his friends – like Finn and Noah and Matt from his Biology class – have already had a whole heap of girlfriends. They hold hands in the halls and kiss before homeroom and Noah swears that Santana even let him touch her boob in the middle of gym class. While Mike finds all of this interesting, it's all pretty alien to him too, because whenever he thinks a girl is pretty he gets all tongue-tied and his hands and feet seem to grow six sizes bigger, making him clumsy and awkward.

So instead of thinking about girls he thinks about State capitals and geometry and synonyms for 'shy', and to blow off steam he cranks up the music in his bedroom and watches videos on MTV.

When he's dancing, he can almost stop reciting – _Albany, Annapolis, Atlanta, Augusta – _and just let himself be.

XxX

In 8th grade everything changes when Quinn Fabray transfers to their school. Brittany and Santana adopt her – all three of them long-legged, wide-eyed and generally deemed the-hottest-of-the-hot – and Mike watches as two of his oldest friends fall head-over-heels.

Finn and Quinn are practically inseparable from the moment they meet and Mike realises pretty quickly that love seems to make guys blind. Finn doesn't even seem to notice the way Puck stares after his girl.

Silently, Mike does.

XxX

In 9th grade they go to High School, and it's almost as scary as Kindergarten all over again. The sea of cliques and clubs and expectations has a fierce, strong tide and for a few weeks he desperately just tries to keep his head above water until Matt drags him along to a football tryout. Mike's kind of skinny and Coach Tanaka eyes him warily, but his eye is good and when he gets the ball he's the fastest one on the field. He finds himself crowned – a prince among the mere mortals of high school – with a letter jacket and a place in the starting line-up.

The winter passes with him sprinting up and down the field as Finn throws, Matt stands his solid ground and the freshly-mohawked Noah ("from now on it's just 'Puck', dude, okay?") enjoys breaking heads with amnesty. From the sidelines the girls wave their pompoms and cheer and when he catches her eye Brittany gives him a wink and blows a kiss. She's a flirt, but Mike still sees her as the six-year-old who got frustrated with the ABCs, so he just waves back and spends his Thursday nights helping her study remedial Algebra.

It's a Friday night and practice is over and his Dad has a flat tire. The rain starts falling as he stands in the parking lot, so he retreats into the empty halls for shelter. Wandering, he starts momentarily when he hears music begin to play, but he follows it until he reaches the ajar door of the choir room.

A voice flows out – warm and pure - and crashes over him like a wave. He finds his foot tapping in time with the music, his fingers wiggling and playing the tempo against the rough material of his jeans. He shifts, and the door creaks.

The music stops.

Tina stares up at him from the piano, her skin creeping crimson from the low neckline of her black t-shirt to the apples of her cheeks. Her fingers still rest on the piano keys.

" Sorry," he finds himself saying, and meaning it. He wishes she would carry on, let her voice pick up the melody and fill the space between them.

It's been a long time since they've really spoken. In Asian community gatherings, vague friendly nods and waved hellos have sufficed in deference to the usual crowds of chatter and acquaintances and mix of languages. At school, their social circles are so different it's almost like she's on another planet – and he knows she has her own friends. He sees her all the time walking down the hall with the disabled guy – Archie? – or the girl with the big hair and the even bigger attitude.

Since the 6th grade she's gotten taller (he's hardly surprised), but is still shorter then him, and where she used to be flat planes and all skinny elbows and wrists, she's softened into gentle curves. He's a bit taken-aback to think of her as pretty.

" J-just practice," she says, pulling her hands back and dropping them into her lap, although she'd been doing something wrong. " F-for G-glee. D-do you need someth-thing?"

He shakes his head and feels terrible, as though by brute force he'd just knocked a fragile bird from its perch. Her dark gaze locks onto his from across the room.

When he gets home that night he puts in his earphones and dances until he no longer sees the burning in her eyes.

XxX

He's 15 when he first busts a move at a party. It's been a really long week; the team got crushed in their latest game and he's fairly certain he's failed his Spanish quiz. To blow of steam he's had a few beers, and so when MJ comes on the stereo he can't help himself – his body starts moving of its own volition. At first no one really notices, but then Brittany jumps up from where she's been necking one of the Seniors on the couch and joins in. Their bodies twist and move together, and they both laugh as he spins her around and then catches her again, his arms starting a wave that finishes with hers.

When they finish, they are both grinning and flushed and his heart beats hard in his chest. Santana golf-claps from the corner, unimpressed.

As he goes to grab another beer he runs – almost literally - into Puck. " Nice moves."

Twisting the top he takes a long drink. " Thanks." He's not exactly known for his verbosity.

There's a pause, and for a long moment Puck says nothing, his eyes fixed on a point just over Mike's shoulder. Turning, Mike sees Quinn and Finn just re-entering the party from one of the spare rooms. It's been a weird sort of few weeks – Finn shocked them all by joining the Glee club of all things, and the Cheerios, for some reason, had followed. Mike hadn't quite worked out all the motives, but then, he hadn't really given it a great deal of thought until Kurt Hummel had joined the football team and brought singing, dancing, and of all things – _Beyonce – _to the field.

Eyes hardening, Puck turns back to him. " So, what do you think about this whole 'joining the Glee club' thing?"

The look on one particular face when they walk into the room makes the whole thing worth it.

XxX

Glee is nothing but drama, but with the combination of Quinn Fabray, Noah Puckerman and Rachel Berry, he's hardly surprised. Add into that the cutting observations of Kurt Hummel and the burning sass of Mercedes Jones, and he's surprised anyone makes it out unscathed. And that's without even mentioning Santana.

So, for the first few months he's quite content to just keep his head down and hum along in the background, and hopes he'll have the chance to get his dance on at some point. He's not really expecting it to get to him as much as it does, but somewhere between babygate and babydaddygate and marijuana laced cupcakes and Vitamin D highs, it's pulled him in. When Coach Tanaka – sweating and veiny and as angry as Mike's seen him – forces them to choose between football and Glee, he barely gives it a second thought.

Time seems to race. His head is a rush of lyrics and choreography, and he finds himself falling asleep on his homework and his grades slip a whole letter before his parents start threatening to make him prioritize, at which point he promises to work harder.

Lunchtimes more often then not find him sequestered in the library, books around him, and with very familiar company. The first time Tina had dropped her bag down across from him and hugged her books to her chest. " I got a B- in my Chem test," she said by way of explanation, and they're twenty minutes through their silent shared study time before he even realised that she didn't stammer – in fact he hasn't heard her stammer for a while.

He watches her study – like he watches her sing, or dance, or talk and laugh with her friends – and wonders how she, of all people, has managed to get under his skin. She's dating Artie, he's pretty sure, because she smiles more when he's around. It lights her up and he wish he didn't notice.

But the thing is, he _does _notice. Like he notices when she sings, she's beautiful. And when she asks him to dance with her – not with the whole group, just with _her – _as part of their ballads assignment, he can't help but notice the way her body moves, and her grace. He dips her, looks her in the eyes and

WHAM.

He's gone.

XxX


	2. Chapter 2

XxX

They've been back at school for three days, and - other that interruptions for Glee rehearsal or clandestine sneak-attack kisses in empty classrooms - already the monotony of the school year is sinking in. Asian camp - with its variety of activities, hoards of screaming text-savvy children and mouthwateringly short shorts - seems an eon ago. The doldrum, however, is broken when he rounds the corner to find Brittany leaning up against his locker. She's wearing her Cheerios uniform, which is totally normal, but what *isn't* normal is the way she's biting her lip and looking - in a way that makes his stomach churn - truly worried.

" You okay?" The words tumble out of him, quiet and curious and he rests a hand on her shoulder, because they've been friends since they were 5 and he's seen her through all kinds of situations - from her cat getting hit by a car, to falling off her bike, to Barbie and Ken splitting up, failing 9th grade Math and to almost losing Glee club last year.

She tilts her head and fixes him with a look that he can't quite understand and he's surprised, because he didn't realise that Brittany could *do* looks that he didn't understand. " I really need to talk to you. It's super important."

" What is it?"

She bites her lip and looks around with narrowed eyes as though making sure no one is listening, before leaning really close so he can smell the familiar mix of vanilla body scrub and cherry Lip Smackers that has always defined Brittany. " You know I love you and we've been friends for like our whole lives, and I know it's hard because you're like the only Asian guy in the school, but you can't go out with your sister. It's totally gross."

He's stunned for a minute, because not only has she known *him* since Kindergarten, but she's known Tina that long too. He frowns and grasps her shoulders to make sure she's listening, and the material of her uniform is rough under his palms. " Tina's not my sister Brit."

A familiar expression crosses her face - confusion - and she whispers, " But you're both Asian."

" Yeah..."

" And you have the same last name."

" Yeah, but Chang is a really common Asian name. Like Smith or Jones."

" Wait, does that mean you're related to Mercedes too?"

She's biting her lip again and he knows he's better to head her off at the pass than let her rush on full steam ahead, because otherwise he'll have an angry Santana coming to find him later to yell at him for muddling her up, and he'll have to explain *exactly* what it was they talked about so Santana can go and translate it into simple. " Brittany - I'm not related to Mercedes. I'm not related to Tina. I'm dating Tina and it's totally allowed and non-incestuous."

The frown is back. " What does this have to do with insects?"

He sighs, because sometimes having long conversations with Brittany is kind of exhausting. Opening up his locker, he puts his backpack inside. " It means she's definitely not my sister and it's really okay."

He's almost surprised when he's tangled in a flurry of vanilla-scented limbs and cherry lips press against his cheek. " Awesome." The smile is back on Brittany's face and he finds himself letting out a breath, relieved. " So does that mean you're going to be getting some sweet Asian-loving?" The question is a mostly curious but a little teasing and she asks it with a big smile on her face and laughs when he lightly pushes her on the shoulder and tells her to shut up.

Grabbing his notebook and shutting his locker with a slam, he lets her loop her arm through his as they walk down the halls towards their Social Studies class. " So how was your summer?"

XxX

After they find out about Rachel sending Sunshine Corazon to the crack house, Mike and Tina go to find Mr Schue.

" Mr Schue can we talk to you? It's kind of important."

He allows them to pull him aside, eyeing them up and down with a look that can only be described as nervous.

" Please tell me you're not pregnant as well."

XxX

Mike's terrified to sing in front of everyone on his own, because he knows singing isn't exactly his forte. But the last thing he wants to do is let Tina down, especially when her method of buoying his confidence is to go down on him the minute they enter her room to 'study'. She yanks his jeans down without even unbuttoning them, and they pull his Calvins at the same time, and if she didn't look so absolutely incredibly hot knelt down on the floor in her knee-high boots with her red plaid skirt fanned around her, he might have been slightly frightened of the hungry glint in her eyes.

For second he feels like an idiot with his jeans around his ankles and his Cons still on, but then Tina does that thing with her tongue that makes his mind blank out and the last thing he hears is a groan that he's not sure came from his lips or Tina's.

Fifteen minutes later he's flat on his back on her bed and his breath is still coming in desperate, heavy pants, and her lips are set in such a smug expression that he can't help but lean over and kiss her. His hand skims down her naked back, tickling her side, and she giggles into his mouth. " Miiiike!"

He stops the tickling, but rests his hand on her waist, slowly stroking his thumb over her bare still-cooling skin. " I'm going to suck, you know that right?"

At the words she kisses him hard on the lips, one hand on the back of his neck, and when she pulls away she rests her forehead against his. " The only sucking that's going to go on is between me and you, right here, okay?" She's joking, and it makes his lips quirk into a smile. " You don't have to be the best singer. We don't have to win. I just - I want us to do this, together, okay? Just to try."

Later, when they're in the choir room, Tina holds his hand, and when the music starts he just lets his body take over. They're done and everyone is applauding before he even knows it, and Tina's arms around him more than makes up for the lingering feeling that he might throw up.

And when he makes it up to her that they didn't win by planning a picnic in his living room - no parents, no dim sum, just the two of them, a pizza and the lights on low - her smile makes all the fear worth it.

XxX

The Hudson/Hummel wedding is awesome for all kinds of reasons, for one because of how happy the bride and groom look as they sway together on the dance floor, secondly, because Finn and Kurt are really brothers now and Finn's started acting like it, and thirdly, because of the dress that Tina gets to wear. He loves her in red (one of his best memories is her in a red matching bra-and-panties set when they celebrated his birthday), he loves all the bare skin at her back, and most of all he loves it that she doesn't stop him resting his hand on her mostly-bare thigh as they sit around and chat with their friends during the reception.

Brittany comes over - clutching a diet coke and breathing hard from dancing with Santana - and drops down in the vacant chair next to him. Tina is in the middle of a conversation with Mercedes, so he turns his body slightly, without moving his hand from Tina's leg. Brittany looks out at the dance floor where Finn and Kurt are still bopping, both of them looking relaxed and happy for at least that moment. She pushes her hair back from her face with her free hand, almost dislodging the orange flower from where it's tucked next to her ear.

" You know, when Finn sings he looks like a hungry lion," she observes, and Mike can't help but laugh.

" Yeah, well when he dances he looks like a lion that's been stuck with a tranquilizer, so I think we should take what we can get."

The two of them chat about the wedding and their friends, and compare notes on their earlier wedding-entrance performance. " You know you should totally moonwalk into your wedding!" Brittany suggests with a look of pure glee on her face. " That would be _awesome_."

The idea strikes him as inspired, so he can't help but lean his body towards Tina, squeezing her knee to draw her attention away from Mercedes. " Hey, Tina, can I moonwalk into our wedding?" he asks, with what he thinks is a hopeful and winning smile.

It's with a slight eye roll and a look of pure indulgence that she reaches up and rubs his neck, still sore from the week's earlier beat-down. " Sure you can baby."

It's only later, when he's dancing with Brittany and watching Tina and Santana gossip in the corner that he realises that - probably without noticing - she's somehow just agreed to marry him.

XxX

If he had been nervous about singing in front of the Glee club during their 'duets' assignment, it's nothing compared to the abject terror he feels at being given a solo during Sectionals. It's not the same as being asked to sing - because he *knows* he can dance, that's something he's sure of - but having to do it in front of all those people? With their ride to Regionals resting on him? Yeah, it's a *big* responsibility.

And it's not just the pressure that's getting to him - all the New Directions are still reeling from Kurt's move to Dalton. Mike knows it's the best thing for him, because Karofsky's a jerk - he's got bruises to prove it - and unless they patrol around Kurt between every class the school just isn't going to be safe, but it still makes everything just feel kind of *off*. Mike knows Tina's been keeping in touch with Kurt - texting and Skyping and IMing - and he's made sure she sends hello from him, but it's not exactly the same as having him in the choir room every day.

So Sectionals are in a week and he's been practicing basically 24/7. His arms ache and his feet are sore and he sprawls out on the floor of the stage to catch his breath. Picking up his water bottle he dumps half of it on his head before chugging the rest. Licking his lips is like licking dusty parchment, so he tugs on Brittany's sleeve where she is stretching next to him, her legging-clad calves sweaty and taut. " Can I borrow your chapstick?" He knows it means he'll taste kind of fruity, but at this point he doesn't care.

Brittany digs around in her bag, tossing him the chapstick and continuing to rummage around. " Oh no." When he looks at her, his face is stricken.

" What?"

Her head is practically inside her backpack, but he can hear her words. " I lost it." Snapping upright, she jumps to her feet, shouldering her bag with such speed that it makes him dizzy. " I'm going to find it, so don't tell Artie, okay?"

She's off the side of the stage before he can even tell her that he has no idea what it is he's not supposed to tell.

XxX

Later that day Tina pulls back when they're kissing and gives him a look that can only be described as disappointed, and he wonders if the exhaustion from having rehearsed so much has had a negative impact on his technique.

Then a day passes and she's rocking some kind of gothic-cheerleader look, and while he appreciates the amount of leg on show he can't help but notice it's quite a shift from her usual wardrobe. Being the kind of guy he is he chooses not to mention it, because as long as Tina is happy he doesn't really care what she wears, but then she calls him jerk which doesn't exactly do much for his confidence, especially as he has *no* idea what he's supposed to have done to piss her off.

Then they're actually *at* Sectionals when all hell breaks loose and she threatens not to perform in the competition and all he wants to do is grab her by the shoulders and shake and ask what the _hell_ is going on because this is supposed to be their moment. And they're supposed to be a team. But there are tears welling in her eyes so instead of shaking her he just grabs her by the hand and pulls her into the nearest empty room, which happens to be the ladies' bathroom. Undeterred by the lavender paint and freaky O'Keefe paintings, he stares down at her and can feel his heart skip a beat when one of the tears that had been pooling only moments ago slips down her ivory cheek.

" If you're going to b-break up with me," she sniffles, " please do it quickly."

He's sure he must look like an idiot because he feels his jaw drop. " What are you talking about?" he spits out, his brain set to permanent confusion. " Why would I break up with you?"

Tina reaches up and swipes at her cheek, but lifts her chin in defiance. " I know about you and Brittany."

The words don't compute. " _What_ about me and Brittany?"

Her arms cross over her chest: hurt, defensive. " Don't play dumb with me Mike Chang. You've spent all that time together rehearsing, and you come back tasting like Cherry LipSmackers?"

" I don't - "

" Don't lie to me!" She pushes him hard in the shoulder, sending him crashing against one of the sinks, and the porcelain bites the flesh of his hip. He yelps, pretty sure that it's going to leave a bruise. " She _admitted_ it to Artie! She said she cheated on him with you." The tears are freely flowing now, and if she looks hurt and angry, that's nothing compared to how he feels.

He's stunned to silence, and she seems to take that as an admission of guilt, because she goes to storm past him, but he grabs her by the elbow. " I _never_ cheated on you. I don't know what Brittany's talking about...I never...I _would_ never do that. Tina - " he moves his hands to cup her face, and though she doesn't look him in the eye, she doesn't try and pull away either. " I'm not like the other guys - I'm not Puck or Finn or someone who's going to screw around just because the opportunity presents itself."

She's sniffling, and it's not exactly dignified. Mascara streaks down her cheeks and he knows if Kurt or Mercedes could see her now, they'd declare her a federal disaster. But her face reads belief, and then shame, and though that should probably be the end of it, he's not quite done feeling hurt that she would think that of him. He pulls his hands from her face. " I'm really disappointed that you'd think that of me Tina. That you'd listen to other people without talking to me about it first."

Now it's his turn to try storming out, but her fingers grasp at his wrist, tugging him back. " I'm sorry," she starts, and her fingers are holding so tight, like she's afraid to let go. " You're right, you're _so_ right, you've never given me reason not to trust you." Using her free hand she pushes the hair back from her face, the blue streaks tucked behind her ear. " I just... I'll never be popular Mike. I'll never be one of the pretty girls like Brittany or Santana or Quinn. And - god, you and Brittany just look so..._good_ together...so picture perfect that sometimes I think you'd be better off with someone like her. I'm sorry." Moving her hand, she laces their fingers together and squeezes, and while Mike is still mad, he can't help but squeeze back, just a little.

Then, squaring off, he uses his other hand to tilt her chin up so she is looking him in the eye. " I'm only going to say this once Tina, okay? I don't want to be with Brittany. Or Quinn or Santana or any of those other girls. I want to be with _you_. But I'm not going to stop being friends with them either. So you have to trust me. You have to trust that I love you, and that if I ever _stop_ loving you or I ever decide I want to be with someone else, I'll tell you. I'm not going to go behind your back. I'm not going to lie. I can't promise that we're going to be together forever, but I can promise you that."

He's not quite sure why, but Tina's face has - in an instant - gone from thunder cloud to bright, golden sunshine. A smile has burst onto her face and it makes her glow.

" You _love_ me?"

The make out session that follows is hot and fast and full of murmured apologies and forgiveness and further confessions of love, and one hand is snaked under the flimsy white material of her skirt when they are interrupted by a hammering on the door.

" Yo! Asian Fusion! Stop getting your freak on and get moving, we're up!"

They straighten their clothes and walk back into the green room and she apologies _again_ and he says he loves her _again_ and they kiss _again_ and then the others are dragging them onto the stage, and they listen as Quinn and Sam sing their way through the audience and Tina catches his eye and blows him a kiss, and everything else just stops mattering.

Of course, while they're waiting for Santana to start singing, he can't help but notice the way Brittany feels up her ass, and he privately wonders if Tina and Artie really have any clue about what's really going on at all.

XxX

Football has never been much to him except a way to pass the time, something to look good on his college applications and - hopefully - a method of not getting slushied quite so often.

He's never been so aware of the slick grass beneath his feet, the roaring of the crowds or the sheer size of the players until he sees Tina running, full-pelt down the field, ball clutched in her hands. He can barely register Coach Bieste screaming, or Puckerman jumping up and down next to him, or the other girls peeking up from their places spread-eagled on the ground (which is where she _should_ be). No, his eyes are trained on her and her alone, and so he feels it like a blow to his own body when she gets grabbed, hard, and tackled to the floor. He doesn't wait to see if she's gotten up - he can hear the gasp of the crowd that can only mean bad things - and suddenly his legs are moving and he's pulled the helmet from his face and tossed it behind him. He slides across the grass on his knees until he's next to her, and she's still not moving, and he thinks maybe his heart has stopped.

His hand is on her back and then the medics are there and they're turning her over *so* carefully and - _god_ what if she's broken her neck, her father will _kill_ him if he doesn't kill himself first - and they're shining the lights in her eyes and he knows he asks questions but he can't really remember what, but then her eyes are open and she's asking if they won and he'd kill _her_ if he wasn't so unbelievably ecstatic and relieved and his heart stumbles back to the beat as he helps her to her feet. She's got a medic on one side waiting to check her out, but he helps her pull her helmet off. Her hair sticks to her forehead and she's got dirt streaked down her cheek, but she's so beautiful to him right then that he can't help but pull her into a hug.

" You scared the shit out of me," he whispers against her neck, and he doesn't care if anyone can hear him, he tells her, " I love you."

He helps her hobble to the bench and she leans hard against him, and it's only when Coach Beiste comes to check if she's okay that he realises that she kept him on the bench the rest of the half.

Then it's halftime and he tells her to sit out the dance but she pins him with one of those looks, so instead of fighting he just helps her into her dress (hoping that no one notices the two of them are conspicuously absent from their respective locker rooms) and makes notes of all of the bruises in the hope that he can kiss them all away when this night is finally over. But bruises don't stop Tina Cohen-Chang and she's out on the field and rocking and he can pick her voice out over everyone else and so for a moment he just lets himself sink *into* it, and forget everything else. Then his body's moving and his mouth is moving and he's having so much fun that most of the worry is exorcised from his body.

Later, they snuggle in bed and he puts his arms around her, gently and carefully, and as the beginning titles to 'Remember the Titans' begins to roll he murmurs into her neck:

" This is as close as you're getting to football _ever_ again."  
>XxX<p>

Mike doesn't sing to her for Valentine's day, but he dances, and from the smile on her face he's pretty sure that she's happy with that as a gift. Well, that, plus the earrings he got her and secretly broke into her locker to stash as a surprise.

She sings to him. It's not what he's expecting, and he's as confused as everyone else when she breaks down. " I love you Mike Chang!" As he helps her back to her seat, he doesn't miss the way her sobs magically stop, or the wink she sends him.

Later, when he questions her in the privacy of her bedroom, she shrugs her shoulders. " Sometimes I just want to sing to you, not the whole club."

She sings the lyrics across his body, kissing the song into his skin.

" Yeah, I think I like this kind of performance better," he laughs, and she bites down on his ear. " Kinky."

Her arched eyebrow says more than her words. " You love it."

Then her lips crash down on his, and they stop arguing.

He doesn't mind giving up the rest of Valentine's Day to support Kurt and the Warblers. By the time they actually leave her house he's pretty worn out, and she wears her new earrings, and if they're a little more tactile than usual, well - everyone else just chalks it up to the holiday.

XxX

When she starts playing Angry Birds while they're making out, he's both confused and furious. They sit next to each other on the bleachers, and he takes her hand. " Are you tired of being with me?"

Her expression is aghast. " No. I just can't get past this level and it's making me crazy!"

They spend the rest of their lunch hour entangled on the bench, her iphone in his hands until - " And that, my dear is how you do it."

She cocks her head at him, one finger reaching out to trace his abs through his t-shirt. " If I kiss you now, do you promise to stop dressing like Justin Beiber?"

His lips on hers seal the deal.

XxX

Rachel's party should have sucked. Well, truth be told, Rachel's party *did* suck, and then she let Puck break into the liquor cabinet (with a look that could only be described as satanic glee), and then it didn't suck quite so much anymore.

Lots of the party is kind of vague - he remembers flipping quarters into a glass and downing Jack, and watching Tina take shots with Santana (some taken off of Brittany's stomach and he's pretty sure *that* mental image is going to stay with him for a while), and he thinks maybe that's when Brittany's clothes started coming off. He remembers him and Tina dancing, but doesn't remember the song.

He's kind of surprised that she isn't a weepy drunk, because usually even the slightest thing makes her well up. He thinks it might be a holdover from so many years of being shy and holding herself back - like, now she's opened the floodgates, it all spills out whether she means it to or not. So he's surprised that after imbibing - and a fair amount for someone her size - instead of beginning to sniffle and cling, she grabs Mercedes and the two of them start chatting and giggling and a smile just _lights_ her face.

After a while Rachel gets the idea to play Spin the Bottle - a game he hasn't played since grade school - and Puck pulls him by the arm when he goes to sit next to Tina. " No cheating," he insists, even though Mike isn't exactly sure how circle proximity can be considered cheating in this game. But he gives in, letting Tina go and sit next to Mercedes and Puck slings his arm around his shoulder. His breath is a murmur and his breath laced with whiskey. Lauren's glasses still sit on his nose. " So is she as freaky as she looks?" he asks, but it's in good humour, so Mike just laughs and pushes him, making him fall on his side like a weeble. Puck laughs - more of a giggle really - and pulls himself back up with a knowing glance. " Nice Changster, real nice."

The game gets started and everything goes crazy and Mike's never noticed how much more Latina Santana gets when she's drunk. Then Rachel starts kissing the guy that Mike thought was Kurt's boyfriend - and everyone's cheering and he doesn't really get it - but then Rachel's shouting about duets and the game scatters, and Rachel's got a microphone in her hand. So Mike grabs Tina and the two of them do the thing that they do best - well, the thing that they do _second_ best - and dance. She's warm and smiling and so he can't help but lean down and kiss her, and she tastes like tequila and lime and just *Tina*, and then the song's over and his lips are still on hers and he can hear everyone cheering, and while he's almost sure it's for Rachel and Blaine, he can't help but feel a sense of achievement.

Later, when he's holding back Tina's hair as she vomits, the party isn't quite so fun.

But it he can't help but think was good while it lasted.

XxX

He comes around the corner to find Brittany leaning up against his locker, and he almost has a flashback to the beginning of the year, but instead of looking worried, this time Brittany looks *distraught*. Tears are swimming in her eyes and her lower lip trembles. As she sees him, she throws herself towards him, and he can't help but note how she falls against his chest without hesitation. " What happened?"

She hiccups and her body trembles, but her words are smothered in his jacket. He thinks he hears Santana's name and Artie's, and something about Lebanon and their sub Miss Holliday, but it's all just a jumbled mess. Without needing any further explanation, he puts his arm around her shoulder. " Come on, let's get out of here."

They sit in his car and he hands her a kleenex and waits while she composes herself. Then it all comes tumbling out - about the years she and Santana have spent making out and more, about how confused she feels (it's the ballad/mallard problem all over again - but worse). About how she loves Artie but she loves Santana and how they talked to Miss Holliday who suggested they sing about their feelings. And how Santana had chosen a song for them and she's read the words but she doesn't know whether Santana really _means_ it and even if she does, what that means for _her._

She rambles for a good twenty minutes, and while Mike doesn't have much advice to give, he lets her speak and then they hug it out when she's done. She's vanilla and cherry and _sadness_ and it makes Mike's stomach clench. " Whatever you decide," he says, tweaking her nose, " I'm behind you, okay?"

Later, after they've watched Brittany and Santana and Miss Holliday sing Fleetwood Mac, and he knows he's not the only one who noticed Santana's tears or the way the girls hugged when they finished, and everyone's gathered up their stuff and left the choir room, he remains in his seat. Tina's almost at the door when she notices he isn't behind her, and she turns around to look at him.

" Mike?"

It's just his name, but it's a question and a worry and a thousand other things, and it's what prompts him to cross the room in three large steps and gather her up in his arms. The kiss is long and hard and must betray his unease, because when she pulls away from him her eyes are searching. " What was that for?"

" I just love you," he says. " And I wanted to make sure you know that."

He knows it doesn't really answer her question, but she threads their fingers together none-the-less. " Of course I do. I love you too."

With a gentle smile, they walk from the choir room hand-in-hand.

XxX


	3. Chapter 3

A/N – Sorry if anyone gets alerted for this twice. I uploaded it before I realised it still had the html tags in. Doy.

A big thanks to all who have been so supportive of both this fic and me! I appreciate it so truly.

XxX

Lunch is almost over by the time he finally catches up with her. On seeing him enter the cafeteria, she pulls out her earbuds and closes the textbook she's been making notes on. " You missed lunch," she says, even though he's well aware of it. But there's a question in the statement, so as he sits down next to her and takes the sandwich she's saved for him, he explains: " I was helping Brit get dirt out of her eyes."

One eyebrow rises, and he knows he's going to have to explain, but for the moment his mouth is occupied with bread and when he tries to speak he starts to cough and she has to pass him her soda and thump him on the back. He's downed half of her drink before he gets his breath back. " Coach Sylvester filled her locker with it."

_" Why?" _

His shrug says a lot, and nothing, and Tina's face is curious. (She's noticed that there's been something going on between him and Brittany recently, but when she asks him about it he just says that he's lending her a friendly ear, and it wasn't really his place to say anymore. And because she trusts him - she _does_ trust him - that's enough for her.) He takes another sip of soda and clears his voice. " Because she's crazy," he finally answers, and though it feels a bit like lying it makes her laugh and seems to distract her. Or rather, he can see that she *lets* herself be distracted, and taps his knee with the palm of her hand.

" You'll _never_ guess what Santana asked me to do today." Her smile is big and mischevious, and for a moment he *truly* wonders if he's going to have to kick Santana's ass (and whether he *can* kick Santana's ass) when she says, " She wants me to help her write an original song. About Sam."

He's not quite sure why she looks so amused. " That's...nice?"

She shakes her head, stealing her soda back and drinking from the bottle, licking her lips when she is done in a way that makes his brain short-circuit for a moment. " Guess what it's called?"

His laughter when she tells him fills the room, and though he feels kind of sorry for Sam, he can't *wait* to see Santana pull this one off.

XxX

Trouty Mouth is everything he wished for and more, and he's surprised that he and Tina don't crack each other up as she plays the piano and Santana sings. Mostly, he just avoids making eye contact with her - or with anyone - in order to save himself from Santana's wrath.

Then it's over and Sam's sitting next to him pouting and Puck's got his guitar and is staring at Lauren in way that - quite frankly - kind of freaks Mike out. As Puck begins to play (and the song really does have an excellent beat) Mike can't help but look over at Tina. She's wearing a frown, and he can tell that she wants to hate the song because it's stupid and kind of insensitive, but, well, when Lauren starts rocking out looking something like flattered and proud, and she catches him dancing in his seat, he knows she can't help the smile that breaks over her face. Because Puck might be dumb, might be a juvenile delinquent, he might be a *whole* lot of things, but he knows when she sees him with the guitar strung around his neck she can't help but remember that he's a good guy too.

What no one else knows about Tina is that she has a whole notebook full of lyrics and songs and tunes hidden in the bottom of her dresser. He finds it accidentally while they're studying AP Calc, and he goes searching for her spare calculator. " Why don't you use one of these for Glee club?" he asks, sitting cross-legged on her bed, after she gives him permission to look through it. Lots of the phrases are beautiful, and when he sees his own name appear in some of the songs he blushes, and then without even waiting for an answer, he understands why.

They're not for everyone else. Maybe one day they will be, but for now, they're the way she works past all that shyness and the fear and insecurity inside herself.

He asks her to sing one for him, and she shakes her head. " I can't. Not yet."

Tugging her down onto his lap, he kisses her lips soundly, running his hands through her loose hair, enjoying the soft, silky feel against his fingertips. " Okay," he agrees, his voice a hot breath on her lips. " But when you're ready, I want to hear them all, okay?"

She rewards his patience, his simple understanding, by tracing her fingers up his shirt and working the top button out of its hole. Then his shirt is off, and her shirt is off, and his lips are on her skin and she's making that moaning sound that shoots right to his core. He leans her back against the pillows and is working at the zipper on her skirt when her phone starts to buzz on the desk.

" Ignore it," he implores, his hand slipping down the back of her skirt and his fingers tracing the - _shit_ - black lace of her underwear, but she presses her hands against his shoulders.

" It might be my mom saying she's left work early," she warns, and it's only this that has him removing his hands from her and flopping back against the mattress with a sigh. She crawls across his body - pressing her hips against his more by intent then accident, he's pretty sure - and grasps her phone between outstretched fingers. Then she leans back against him, snuggling into his body as she scrolls down her messages.

He's just allowing himself to get distracted kissing her naked shoulder when she blurts out, " Oh my god!"

He pulls back, wondering if maybe he'd managed to bite her without realising, but the look on her face is one of excitement rather than annoyance. " What?"

" Kurt and Blaine kissed - finally! I have to call him and Mercedes *right* now!"

She's off the bed and her fingers are flying over the keypad and then there's just screaming and illegible girl-noise, and while he feels pleased for Kurt and all, he can't help but think the guy has *the* worst timing in the whole world.

XxX

The bus ride to Regionals is hell. Brittany gets sick from too much Big Gulp, making the driver pull over on the highway, and she *just* manages to get down the steps before she pukes bright pink down the side of the bus. They all watch from the windows as Quinn holds her hair and rubs her back in such a natural, maternal fashion that they all have to hold back a flinch. The zipper on Santana's dress gets stuck and when Puck tries to unstick it he manages to punch her in the back of the head and they start yelling at each other.

In the back of the bus Mike and Tina play rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets to deal with which crisis, and Mike loses, so he has to referee the match between Puck and Santana (he enlists Mercedes to actually help him free the zipper – and in the moment *really* misses Kurt because he would have known exactly what to do). Tina instead moves down the bus to help Quinn re-do Brittany's hair and make-up, and feed her small sips of ginger ale.

When their tasks are done they meet back in their seat and grasp each other fiercely. " I hate bus rides," Mike whispers in her ear, and is rewarded with a long, gentle kiss.

When Tina pulls back she is smiling. " When we go to Nationals, I promise you and me will try and get upgraded to First Class, okay? Leave the rest of them to deal with the drama themselves."

They seal it with another kiss and then they're turning into the parking lot of the venue, and seatbelts are being undone and hands are pulling them apart and then Artie's wheelchair lift freezes and Rachel starts screaming that they're going to miss their slot, and it takes Finn, Puck, Mike and Mr Schue to get Artie off the bus while Mercedes and Tina do their best to keep Rachel under control.

By the time they sneak into the auditorium, Mike's just glad for the quiet.

XxX

Kurt had been texting them the whole journey, so they know he and the Warblers had arrived before them, but when they see him up on stage Mike notices how everyone sits up just that little bit straighter.

The duet Kurt and Blaine sing is awesome, and he can see tears in most of the girls' eyes (and Puck's too). Some of them wave the glowing candles, but there aren't enough to go around, so he pulls out his cell phone and waves that around instead. Sam sees him and does the same, and then the whole Glee club either has a candle or a phone in their hand and is waving it with reckless abandon. At the end, the applause bursts from them like an explosion, and other audience members look around, but none of them care. They're proud of Kurt, of his voice, his performance.

Also? When they see the way Blaine looks at him at the end of the song, they're just really pleased for *him*.

XxX

The night goes spinning by, and suddenly their songs are over and one minute he's picking bits of red confetti out of Tina's hair, and then they're ushered onto stage for the results.

Finn is next to him and he can feel the tension radiating off of the taller boy's body, and he allows himself one sneaking peek at the Warblers but they all look like they might throw up and so he closes his eyes and just waits.

" The winner is...New Directions!"

They say their name and suddenly it's like thunder strikes because everyone starts screaming and Mike sees Tina in a tangle of Brittany's arms and then he's grabbed by Finn and lifted almost off his feet, and someone passes over the trophy and the thing is bigger than Rachel he *swears*, and then Mike's hoisting it in his arms and it just feels... _beyond_ everything he ever imagined. It really is the true meaning of _*Glee*_.

XxX

On the bus ride home the trophy gets a seat all to itself, and it's late but they're all so hyped that they end up singing song after song at the tops of their lungs and even though the driver looks like he's about ready to punch someone Mr Schue doesn't even try to stop them. He just lets a laugh out and joins in on the chorus of 'Loser Like Me'.

In the back of the bus Mike sits with Tina's legs stretched across him and his hand sneaking up her skirt as they kiss and kiss and kiss, and every few minutes someone catcalls or throws screwed up paper at them but neither of them care (other than to flip Puckerman off). Mike knows as long as they don't get *too* carried away that no one will really pay enough attention to tell them to stop. Everyone is just so full of love that even Rachel and Quinn grin at one another as they harmonize in the verses.

It's as they cross the city line back into Lima that Tina whispers her idea to him. " We should do it for all competitions, starting from now. One person who's really gone above and beyond."

She bites down on his ear and he can't help but shudder and pull her even closer to his body. " Like an MVP?"

They tell their idea to Mr Schuester the next day, and he seems surprised by their thoughtfulness, but jumps on board. So they pass the word around, and only one name keeps coming up again and again.

When Mr Schue hands Rachel the trophy and she starts her 'speech', Mike can't help but wonder if maybe this was all a big mistake. But then she carries on speaking, and he sees the tears start to film over her eyes, and he can really feel the sincerity of her pride in her team. So when she's done, he can't help but be one of the first people to his feet, and when the whole team is up, tangled around each other, he can't help but hope that this feeling never *ever* goes away.

XxX

His parents aren't exactly strict, but they're not super-laid-back either. While they don't mind him being a member of Glee or practicing dance in his bedroom or the basement, they made him promise that his involvement in the club wouldn't have a negative impact on his grades. To this end, when a chance comes up to be a member of the Academic Decathalon team, he doesn't even give it a second thought.

He begs Tina, " Join with me," because he knows how smart she is and how much her parents - like his - emphasize the importance of academics. " If we win this they'll be off our backs for the rest of the year."

Their academic adviser has already cornered Artie into joining, and Liv Schneider who Mike knows from history class. The four of them practice questions and answers and devise their own Jeopardy-stye game in order to brush up their general knowledge, but then the day before the first 'Smarty Pants' quiz, Tina comes running up to him in the halls and grabs his arms, a crest-fallen expression on her face. His concern is instant, " What's wrong?"

" Liv Schneider has rubella."

XxX

When they find Artie and tell him he's similarly aghast, because they've put *so* much work into preparing for the show and it would suck to forfeit, but then Brittany saunters over to them and asks when they're talking about and Mike locks eyes with Artie and they seem to have the same idea at the same moment.

" Hey Brit," he asks. " How would you like to join the Academic Decathalon team?"

She seems to mull it over, cocking her head to one side so that her ponytail falls over her shoulder. When she answers, her voice is soft and conspiring. " Do I have to make out with anybody?"

Tina's mouth is open and her brow furrowed, because try as she might to figure her out, Brittany's logic is usually very much her own. " No," she assures. " Why?"

" I thought when you play for another team it's because you like making out with different people."

Mike can feel the confusion radiating off of Brittany, and the curiosity (and slow clunk clunk clunk of realisation) coming from Tina so he jumps in. " Look, Brit, we really need your help. We have a secret handshake _and_ we can pay you in Dots."

At this, Brittany's face lights up. " Awesome!"

XxX

The day before the competition they tell all their friends about the show but there seems to be some kind of Finn/Quinn/Rachel drama going on, so everyone mumbles a half-reply and then keeps their heads down until finally it all blows up with Finn kicking a chair over, Quinn yelling and Rachel storming out of the room.

XxX 

At the studio they stare, open-mouthed at the cameras and the lights, because even though they're used to being on stage in front of an audience, this is _tv_. As they wait to be shown to their places, Tina's hands shake so hard that she drops her glass of water and it spills over her skirt.

" Damn it!"

Seeing his girlfriend's unease, Mike pulls her against his chest, not caring that Artie and Brittany are in the corner of the room and the sound guy is checking levels around them. " It's going to be okay," he assures her, because he knows Tina, he _knows_ what she's afraid of – that without a melody to her words they will somehow freeze and disappear from her lips and she'll let them all down. " Just imagine it's still just the four of us playing in the library and you'll be amazing. You are the smartest person I know Tina."

She wipes her eyes – tiny tears pricking there – and beams up at him. Mike feels his stomach clench because the smile that she's giving him usually leads to things that he's _sure_ shouldn't happen in a television studio. Well, at least unless they were making a very different type of show.

" You really think I'm smart?"

He's astounded sometimes that she can't see it – that she thinks _she's_ the lucky one to be with him when he can't get his head around the fact she wants him. " You're brilliant," he tells her with a kiss to one cheek. Kissing the other cheek he adds, " And so talented." Then he moves his mouth to her neck and presses a kiss to her smooth skin, his voice murmuring, " And sexy." She giggles, her hands on his shoulders, but he pulls back and looks her in the eye. " And we are totally going to kick Carmel High's ass, okay?"

She rewards him with a kiss that makes him dizzy, and when they're directed to their seats she grips his hand under the desk. Looking down the table at their team, Artie gives him a double thumbs-up and Brittany grins before popping a Dot between her lips.

The show rocks – questions and answers flying and buzzers sounding and flashing and when Tina pulls some arcane knowledge of biochemistry from nowhere to thoroughly trounce Sushine Corazon in a head-to-head he can't help but grin at the look of pride of her face – and then somehow, amazingly, they win, and all four of them are a tangle of limbs and grins and Brittany's sticky sweet breath and they start chanting, " Detroit! Detroit! Detroit!"

As they're collecting their things to go, arms slide around his chest from behind and he knows that body pressed against him anywhere. Her hips seem to rock gently as lips ghost his ear. " Victory sex at mine?" she giggles, breathy and low and _so_ hot that he fumbles a response. Slipping around to face him, she laughs and then standing on tiptoes, she kisses him on the base of the throat. A moan escapes his lips and she quirks an eyebrow at him. " I'll take that as a yes."

He doesn't even both replying, he just grabs her hand and tosses a goodbye over his shoulder to Brittany and Artie who have just entered the room and look confused at his haste. " Hey bro, where's the fire?"

But then they're in his car and Tina's hand is on his thigh and creeping further and further up until he squirms and she's _seriously_ going to make him get a ticket, and thank goodness her parents don't mind him staying over because they barely make it in the front door and up the stairs before he's pulling at her shirt and he's pretty sure some of the buttons pop off but then her teeth are on his ear and she's giggling and sighing and if this is how they celebrate their semi-final win, he can't _wait_ to crack open the books and take the finals by storm.

XxX

The next day they return to school as champions – a definite swagger in their steps - but it's barely 9:30 before they realise that no one has any idea that they won, except Figgins who congratulates them, and then tells them there's no money in the budget for their trip.

XxX

Mike's in a bad mood all day. He gets his Spanish verbs muddled even though he knows them backwards, and fumbles an easy catch in gym class (making the ball smack him in the face, and Puck and Finn snicker until he snaps the ball towards Finns crotch and the taller boy barely grabs it before it does some serious damage). Before 3rd period he turns a corner just to see Santana getting slushied by Karofsky, and then the person before him in the lunch line gets the _last_ portion of tots. He just sits down at a table when his phone buzzes in his pocket and he reads the text from Tina saying she in all the 'Smarty Pants' excitement, she forgot to do her English homework and so she won't be able to meet him for lunch, and will see him in Glee instead. He glares at his sandwich.

The afternoon doesn't get much better until he meets Tina outside of the choir room and she takes one look at him and wraps her arms around him. " Come on," she whispers, " We'll get through rehearsal and then we're going to the arcade."

" You hate the arcade," he whispers back, but doesn't move his arms from around her body, instead resting his cheek against her hair and breathing in the comforting scent of her coco-mango shampoo.

" Well _you_ like it. And I like watching you kick ass at DDR," she teases, and kisses him quickly. " Okay?"

He nods, and they walk in together, but he's disappointed to find the only two seats left aren't next to each other. He lets her go up first, sitting in the front row and only just managing to suppress a pout.

They talk about Nationals and their lack of money (he feels the echo like a slap – what was _wrong_ with public school funding?) and Mr Schue starts unveiling the big taffy plan, but really he lets his mind drift to his and Tina's arcade plans, and so when a piece of taffy lands in his land he can't help but kiss it and hand it back to her. She smile at him - in the way she does when he's being a goof, and rolls her eyes – but accepts the candy.

He can't stop the feeling building in his chest when Santana starts bitching – though he does feel bad that she's been slushied it's not exactly something new to the rest of them – but when Quinn starts in with her 'woe is me' sob story, he can't hold back and all his anger and irritation bursts out.

"I can't listen to this." 

The looks on the faces of the rest of the club vary from surprise, to shock, to complete confusion. He knows this isn't like him, to be bitter and dramatic (and, he realises to his own consternation, so _Rachel Berry_), but he can't help himself.

Even Mr Schue looks surprised by the outburst. "Mike, you okay?"

He knows he should sit down and pretend he didn't just almost storm out of Glee, or just keep walking so all their faces are behind, but the words trip from his lips before he even remembers thinking them. "No. You guys complain all the time about being mistreated but, you have no idea what it's like to work your butt off for something and have everyone, even your friends, ignore you. " 

They're all still looking at him like he's crazy, but then Artie, Brittany and Tina come and flank him and he stops feeling quite so isolated, and the whole story of their Academic Decathlon success comes out.

Then he realises he's zoned out because they're talking money and Tina – his wonderful, practical Tina – is talking about _motels_ and his mind goes to a good/bad place for a split second and then Mr Schue is talking about adding them to his crazy taffy scheme and he finally feels the anger in him start to abate and the knot in his stomach start to loosen.

Tina grabs him as they leave the choir room, lacing their fingers together, and leans up to whisper, " The way you stood up to everyone? Totally hot."

He kisses her, and they laugh, and suddenly his bad day isn't so bad after all.

The 'Night of Neglect' is all he and Tina talk about for the next few days. She sends him the MP3 of her intended song along with the youtube video and hums it while they study, and eat lunch and even make out until he's pretty sure that even _he_ knows it backwards. In return, and as a diversion, he plays her the song he's intending to dance to and pulls her up off the bed where they've been studying so they can sway along with the music.

" I'm so excited to see you dance," she tells him after he dips her, narrowly avoiding the back of her head colliding with the corner of his desk. They collapse into a pile of limbs on the floor and he pulls her onto his lap, her arms going around his neck and her legs twined with his.

" You see me dance all the time."

" Okay, then I'm excited for everyone _else_ to see you dance."

He replies with a kiss to the tip of her nose. " And I'm going to have to beat the other guys off once they see you sing this song."

Quirking an eyebrow, she cocks her head to one side and grins. " You haven't even seen the dress I'm going to wear yet."

XxX

It's barely ten minutes before opening when Santana gets the tweet that Sunshine isn't coming. Mike feels his stomach drop to his shoes, because he, for once, had let himself be so excited about the evening.

He's sure of one thing though – at the next Asian community event, he's going to blank the *crap* out of Sunshine Corazon.

XxX

They're all about ready to go home when Finn speaks up and he's right, the show must go on, and then Tina is standing up and ready to start the night and he grabs her and kisses her and tells her, " You're amazing."

He's at the edge of the stage watching when the music starts, and then Tina's dragging the mic stand across the stage and she flips her hair and he feels his heart squeeze and a smile take over his face and when she starts singing, it's like magic.

Then the booing starts.

Mike can see the exact moment Tina's confidence shatters like a broken window, and as she runs off the stage he catches her in his arms. As he leads her back to the green room the rest of the choir trail them in a macabre procession, hands and fingers reaching out and touching her, so gently, as if they can some how leech the pain and humiliation from her skin.

When she's calmed her sobbing down enough that he stops worrying about her hyperventilating, she finally manages to speak coherent words: "That's the worst I've ever felt in my entire life."

And at that, he feels his *own* heart break, because he remembers when she was 6 and broke her arm falling off the jungle gym (or perhaps being pushed off, but no one saw Noah do it and he swears it was an accident), and he remembers when she froze and stuttered during class presentations, and he's seen her take slushies to the face and be tackled to the ground by a 200lb line backer, and if this is *worse* than that...well, it's enough to make him want to wrap his arms around her and not let go.

" I'm sorry this happened to you Tina, but maybe it's a good lesson."

He's so mad at Mr Schue, *so* mad, he can feel it creeping through his bones and he just wants to yell at them all because why did this have to happen to _Tina_ of all people, who's probably the single *nicest* girl in Glee. But the worst thing is, while he wants to throw over chairs and then go out and give the audience a piece of his mind (and for some of them, a piece of his fist), he knows Mr Schue is _right_. So he lets the rest of the club plot and plan the great taffy sting, and he just sits and grasps her hand and presses a kiss to her hair when she leans against him.

Quinn has disappeared with the baskets of taffy when he feels a touch on his shoulder. " You ready Mike?" Mr Schue at least has the decency to look a little apologetic.

Tina swipes at her eyes with the back of her wrist. " Go," she tells him with a hand against his chest. " And just - kick some ass okay?" Then stretching up, she takes hold of his vest, bunching her fingers in the material, and presses a long kiss against his lips, not caring that it's in front of Mr Schue and everyone else. " You're going to be amazing."

Unable to speak, he just nods and steps away, feeling a little better when Santana and Brittany swoop in and take his place, their arms going around his girlfriend in girly, gentle compassion. " We got this," Santana assures with a flick of her long hair, and the defiant tilt of her chin makes the knot in his chest loosen, just a bit.

XxX

He's been practicing this dance for months, since way before Mr Schue decided on the 'Night of Neglect'. Long hours in his basement with the music turned up high, his feet sliding across the room like ice. He'd showcased it for Tina two days before, who had laughed at the right moments and been appropriately amazed, and assured him that this was *exactly* what he should perform. " It's just you," she had explained, kissing his nose with a quirked smile on her face. " It's perfect."

When the lights go down at the end of his performance, he can hear Kurt and Blaine cheering from the audience, and it sends a flood of something wonderful through him. As he exits the stage Sam - their MC for the night - grabs him by the shoulders, a grin on his wide mouth. His words: " You were so great!" send another wave of that something wonderful, but it's nothing - _nothing_ compared to the feeling he gets when he returns to the green room and sees Tina cheering and grinning and *so* proud. The words trip from his lips before he even remembers thinking them: " That was all kinds of awesome!"

Like magnets his feet propel him towards her, and suddenly she's in his arms and looking up at him with *that* smile and really what he'd like to do is drag her off somewhere private and ravish her, but instead he just squeezes her tight against him and lets himself feel her body radiating happiness.

Then there's drama, and Mercedes disappears, and then *Rachel* disappears, and then they're both back and Mercedes rocks the house and then the show is over and they all pile into the choir room. They're brought up short by the appearance of Mr Ryerson (and seriously, Mike gets the chills whenever he sees that guy - it has *nothing* to do with him being gay - but instead to do with how completely, undeniably creepy he is), but he ushers them into seats and starts gushing over Mercedes, and then before they know it he's offering to pay for the Brainiacs' trip to Detroit.

The group synchronized handshake might have started off as a joke, but the joy on Brittany's face is real so they clap and move and push imaginary glasses up their noses and he feels like _this_ is what this evening was all about. Then they all start chanting and then everyone joins in, regardless of the fact the rest of them aren't even *going* to Detroit. 

XxX

The Smarty Pants final is against Riverfront High School from Ann Arbor. Surprisingly the other team is friendly and eager to compete, and so when they take their places (" why does my sign only have a T? You all get your full names!") they're all completely buzzing.

They know that this time their friends are all gathered around at Kurt and Finn's to watch them, cheering them on with popcorn and a flood of text messages, and they're full of love and excitement and knowledge, and when that final question comes up, Mike sees Brittany and Artie share a look before their hands come down - smack, in tandem - on their buzzers.

They win and it's awesome. 


End file.
